VG 24/7 has a new Interview/Preview with Project Manager Walid Miled to talk about how the thirst for power can corrupt you in Bound By Flame.

Quote:

While speaking with project manager Walid Miled over Skype I was told that your fellow adventurers can leave at various points in the quest if they feel they can no longer trust you, and there’s also the risk of locking out sections of the plot altogether depending on your inclination. It sounds like a deeper format than your average binary experience.

“It was part of the core at the start,” Miled says of the moral system,” different endings, companions… how they react, how the quests lock and how other quests open. We had to go through all of this and make sure that the player gets a different feeling depending on the choices in the story, gameplay-wise, and so that the character really evolves visually. This has a real impact on the gameplay, so yeah it was really a core part of the game.”

The moral slant is made more intriguing given that the player’s demonic partner isn’t actually evil. Its motivation is a mystery. Miled and his team were keen to avoid making this a choice between good and evil, but to keep things more ambiguous so that vital decisions would be less clear-cut. Short-term advantages such as unlocking new combat options across the game’s three XP-based skill trees may sound tempting, but refusing to submit to the entity will have its own benefits as well. In the end you will end on one of three endings denoting human, demonic and neutral leanings.

“We encourage repeat play in many different ways, ” Miled goes on. “There’s the gameplay first, because you can really specialise your character’s… I could say class, but there are no classes in the game. It’s more about your skill tree because you have two fighting styles, so we encourage repeat play in the gameplay and fighting, but also choosing demon or human will make some characters stay and others leave, then there’s all those different endings. When the player starts over they can have a totally renewed experience.”

…a particularly tough conundrum that could ultimately define your quest. An example given could see players torn between saving a person they’re fond of, or a group of individuals they have no attachment to. Will the greater good win here? That’s the point.

That's what I'd like.
I hope they can keep up to this promieses. Definiteley looking forward to this one.

Currently AoW III with D:OS and BBF waiting. That's close to my personal gamer's heaven. ;)

Farflame

April 5th, 2014 19:24

Yes, that example is good.
Another good decision is to make demon more mysterious and not pure evil. To uncover his motives could be strong story element.